Dubai American Academy's Digital Media Studies TeenSL Pilot Project

Another Interesting Article

noreply@blogger.com (ixoye706) — Wed, 23 May 2007 15:25:00 +0000

Actually, its more of a picture gallery than an article, but does showcase yet another way in which Second Life proves its potential to be more powerful than just 2D pictures.

"On Thursday, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration launched an immersive, interactive 3D presence in the virtual world Second Life.

The site, created by NOAA's Earth Research Lab, gives Second Life users the opportunity to walk through a series of interactive exhibits, showing, for example, the effects of global warming on large glaciers; what it's like to fly in a NOAA plane or weather balloon into, through or around a hurricane; and what undersea caves and marine life look like from a submarine."

Here's the link

Update

noreply@blogger.com (-G) — Thu, 17 May 2007 17:22:00 +0000

Hey, Greg Mathy here and I'm sure many of you have been wondering what's going on. The island has been acquired and is quite spacious (Asif will post about it later on).

As for the villa build, it looks pretty promising right now, though it doesn't follow the schematics laid out for it. Nonetheless, it looks pretty good and not bad for our first build.

Pictures and Videos soon to come!

Just Found This Article On Second Life Education

noreply@blogger.com (Dre Masala) — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 09:35:00 +0000

Hey guys,

I know its not my turn to post, however, I was going to go on to another website and I just found this on the msn homepage. I found it quite ironic because it just shows that Second Life is affecting more than just us.

Take a look!

Thanks, Just thought I'd share it!

Dre Masala

Music as a medium

noreply@blogger.com (Shizzle Rau) — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 13:22:00 +0000

Hey everyone, this is Shizzle Rau comming back with a new post. Todays post is going to be about music as a medium, integrated into online multimedia. A medium – this extension of our body or senses or mind – is anything from which a change emerges. And since some sort of change emerges from everything we conceive or create, all of our inventions, innovations, ideas and ideals are McLuhan media. Thus we have the meaning of “the medium is the message”. The traditional definition of a medium is one of the means or channels of general communication, information, or entertainment in society, as newspapers, radio, or television.

A more radical definition is "any extension of ourselves, and the message of the medium as 'the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs". It was created by a genius named Marshall McLuhan. He has written several books, but his most impressionable one would be a book called "Understanding Media: the Extensions of Man". Mark Federman from the McLuhan Institute at the University of Toronto explains McLuhan's ideas in his article, The Fifth Law of Media. There is a link to his blog under 'Readings' (what is the next message).

How can music be a part of, an 'extension of man'? I'll tell you. Well, lots of songs have subliminal meanings to it. For example, the band Iron Maiden doesn't really have subliminal messages but direct and straight forward messages. Most of which are on wars and how they are not good. Music can make a person feel a certain way. Songs like: Forget It - Breaking Benjamin can make one feel down, but at the same time aware. One must be aware of what is going on.

I would like to say that Global Kids are having a thing for the Virginia Tech victims and their families, so keep an eye out for that.

This relates because to spread the word out, one needs the media. SL, e-mail, posts and forums are exactly those types of media. McLuhan once said, " Utterings are outerings (extensions), so media are not as words, they actually are words. I think this makes alot of sense because if you really think about it, media isn't just the act of delivering information, it is what the media is delivering.Well that is all I have for today.

"I don't want them to believe me, I just want them to think." - Marshall McLuhan

I am Shizzle Rau from DAA. I hope this helps.

Discussion between using Second Life or a Video phone conference.

noreply@blogger.com (Dre Masala) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:30:00 +0000

This was our first class since being on Spring break, so our minds were fresh and ready to work. Today in class there was a big discussion about whats more conveinent, using Second Life or making a Video conference call. Through-out the discussion we were able to come up with some advantages or disadvantages reguarding the two things. In terms of Second Life i would think it was easier as you could use it to get many peoples opinions, thus having new ideas or things to agruee about. As there are many users in Second Life you are able to hold many avatars within a small space. Also the good thing about this particular program is that you are then able to read peoples conversation by just going close to their avitars. From this people are able to give their own personal opinion. Further more, you are even able to teach classes in Second Life. By using the Video Conference Calls you are only allowed to speak to people that are in your contact lists, resulting in less opinions.

In terms of the time in Second Life it takes to meet people, this is a disadvantage as you have to go through a series of steps such as, teleporting the avitars and also finding them in the area. However, in the video calls you only have to press a few buttons to communicate effectively to one another.

When you are talking to people you dont actually know who exactly you are talking to in Second Life as they are not who they appear to be, this implies people change the physical portraits of their own avitars. However, in some cases the operators try make their avitars look the same as they do in real life. By using a video call you are able to identify exactly who you are talking to as you are able to see them in the appropriate time.

One other advantage when using Second Life is all of the chats or discussions are typed and projected on your computer screen. By this technology you are able to look at the history and take out key points or whatever is nessicary to the conversation. In comparison between the Video calls you are unable to do this as acurately as you are basically writing down the points when being said.

This is just a brief overview of our discussions in class, and partially my point of view.
Whats yours?

Dre Masala

The Future

noreply@blogger.com (-G) — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 04:39:00 +0000

In the project overview, it says we will work with our teachers to "document the educational value of using Second Life as a digital media tool in and out of the classroom" and "develop a collaborative build that utilizes the unique qualities if the 3D medium".

We’ve been working on this Second Life experiment for two months. We’ve learned how to build objects and learned how to cooperate online without face to face real life communication. We have some experience now and it is time to develop our understanding of this medium. Some of us seem to have an intuitive understanding. I think it is time to put it into words. What is the future of this program as a learning tool? What is the future of Second Life?

Over this spring break, these were some of the questions that entered my mind. In 8 weeks, our team will have to present a proposal for next year’s students. But before we do this, we must ask ourselves to define exactly how Second Life is a useful tool for teaching and learning.

Analyzing the different ways we communicate with each of these tools while we compare online media may provide some in-depth answers. I think some of the online communication we learned to do in Second Life can also be done in other media, such as blogs and forums. 3-D design can also be done with Google SketchUp for example. Exactly how are these tools different from each other? How are some of these tools better than others for certain things?

Some claim Second Life might be the successor to the traditional internet browser, or add to the 2-D experience. However, I need to develop my understanding of the benefits of a 3-D environment when it comes to researching online. There certainly seem to be disadvantages to using SL for some things.

Of course, you could see how many other people are looking at the site, but I’m sure many would find that inconvenient. Since Second Life uses the basic laws of physics, the more people there are at an area, the further away some people will have to be, making their online experience a nuisance. In other words, if there are 50 people at the same site, some people will not be able to view the site properly, because of perspective issues.

Second Life seems like it could be a useful educational tool. I want to understand what makes it useful and why some experts believe it is a glimpse into the future of learning. We need to continue this discussion together and include experienced SL students from other communities. We should be able to identify the qualities and benefits of this new medium that distinguish it from other media.

On a light note, check out this mock video. How far should we extend ourselves with online communication? Is there a limit? I look forward to responses from DAA students and people outside our school.

Sorry!

noreply@blogger.com (-G) — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 08:38:00 +0000

We're sorry that the blog hasn't been updated for this week, it was Spring Break, and our First Lives took precedence over Second Life.

Updates soon to come!

Locations and Slurls

noreply@blogger.com (Jordan Descenna) — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:52:00 +0000

Hi my name is Jordan Descenna and I will be introducing you to my top 5 landmarks and to something called a Slurl. But before that I need to explain what exactly a landmark is. A landmark is like using a bookmark for a website. You save a site that you like as a file, and whenever you want to go back to that site you just open up the file. Landmarks operate in Second Life the same way. Landmarks are a specific location in Second Life that is saved in your inventory. Whenever you want to go to a certain landmark just open up your inventory and select the landmark of your choice. Now let’s go on to my top 5 landmarks…

Nix Bazaar:
Have you ever felt in Second Life that you want to buy something but you never have the cash? Well Nix Bazaar is a freebie island where you can pick up all the freebies you need from cars, to furniture, to weapons, to scripts. Anything that you like is there. But, the best part about Nix Bazaar is that not a lot of people visit Nix so everything is yours for the taking!

Harbinger Productions:
Want to watch a premade slide show on a big screen? Then Harbinger Productions is the place to go. You can watch slideshows such as Harbinger Holovender or Harbinger Platformer. These slideshows are only around 100 Linden dollars, and the Harbinger theatre is settled in a pleasant, but elegant district. If you don’t feel like watching a slide show, you can shop around for items such as cars or high quality clothing.

Hyperion:
Hyperion is a great place to go if you want to purchase or rent a particular part of a building and set up a shop. There are many shops set up around Hyperion selling furniture and avatars as well as many other things. Hyperion is also a pleasant place in Second Life but not as elegantly designed as Harbinger Productions.

Lewis:
If you feel like relaxing form the hectic world of Second Life and meeting new people in world, then Lewis should be the first location on your mind. Lewis is basically a big meeting area filled with benches and abstract but attractive looking architecture. Many people come to Lewis so it's a great place to make new friends.

Mecca/Club Bond:
Club Bond is obviously a club. From the inside there’s a bar where you can sit, relax, and chat up with new people in world. Outside the club are many buildings with shops to purchase things such as Bartz Buy (Best Buy) where you can buy things like hoverboards for low prices!

Slurls:

Lets say you want to visit a landmark in Second Life but you don’t have the application to run Second Life. So what should you do? Well, hopefully the landmark you want to visit can be viewed by a Slurl. But what is a Slurl? Slurl stands for Second Life url. Slurls are links to locations in Second Life via the internet. For example, if you want to visit the Nasa Space station, find its Slurl and you can view it on a web page. This helps people who don’t have Second Life to experience what Second Life is made of, off the net.

Looking Ahead: The Villa Project

noreply@blogger.com (Asif Gausman) — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 14:55:00 +0000

Hello again! This is Asif Gausman informing you on the current developments of our villa project. Our previous project, the Domino Build, was a success. However, this project will definitely put our Second Life skills to the test. In case you are confused, our current project is to build a replica of our old school campus, a villa, in Second Life. It will display a variety if media and technology resources, artwork produced by students in our school and will become our ‘headquarters’ to do further work exploring the SL medium.

So far we have achieved:

Determining the basic shape of our building (3:4 aspect ratio)
Determining the interior layout of our building
Producing the blueprints of the villa
Determining the features that this building will have
Determining the objects/scripts we could use for these features
Dividing the villa into portions and assigning them to team members

We have begun gathering the supplies needed to build this villa, such as textures, basic foundations, and objects. We have also been collecting objects that might help us such as doors, windows, and furniture.

The next steps in our project are:

Obtaining the land (in the process)
Determining the dimensions of each room
Building a framework of the villa
Revising our blueprint to fit our needs

To show you the progress of our idea (and to give you an idea of our progress :P), a blueprint of the villa when we initially started to design the villa is shown Below. Below that is a blueprint that we cleaned up and modified with the aid of the memories of the people who worked in the villa.

Making the Local News!

noreply@blogger.com (ixoye706) — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 17:46:00 +0000

Our local newspaper, 7 Days, ran a short article on Second Life last Thursday, the 22nd. It mostly focused on the business aspect of Second Life and other similar games. The article names the genre, which also includes games like World of Warcraft and Habbo Hotel, MMOG's, or Massively Multiplayer Online Games. The rest of the article mostly gives numbers about how much real money people spend in virtual games, and believe me, its a lot. I've also noticed that games for Xbox 360 and PS3, and even PC, are starting to include upgrade features that are downloadable, for a cost of course. For example, in Need for Speed Carbon, you can purchase cars you would normally unlock later, download them, and use them earlier to your advantage. However, in Second Life, there is no real objective other than having fun and living large. As the article point s out, with a little real cash, one could purchase really nice virtual possessions. 7 Days hasn't as of yet put the article on line, but they probably will in the next couple days. I'll post it as a comment as soon as they do!

Fun + Education = Serious Gaming

noreply@blogger.com (Ro Shan) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:28:00 +0000

This is Ro Shan here to discuss serious gaming. By what you've seen in the video above you may have already recognized the value of games to real world education. This is just one of the many ways games can be used for educational purposes. Simulation games are already being put to good effect by many organizations around the world to train staff. The military for example uses flight simulation games to prepare pilots to handle a plane. This is also economically efficient compared to having every trainee fly real planes.

Serious gaming also plays a motivational role in teaching. What may seem boring in a lecture may seem much more interesting in a game and besides you also have the advantage of visual aides to help you remember. No person will say its easier to remember the time he had a boring lecture compared to the same thing being taught in a much more practical way demonstrating the same concept. Even if it was essentially the same thing, when taught with a new concept that draws attention its simply a lot more interesting and that much easier to remember.

When we get to it SL is essentially a type of game itself, but one that allows people from around the world to interact in real time. It has greater value as a social learning tool than most other modern methods and it's an intriguing concept for both teacher and student. Education aside it also holds great potential to host activities between schools such as Forensics debate and discussion.

Whether serious games are used as simulations for the real thing or they are used to connect people from around the world they hold a remarkably great amount of yet to be discovered potential. In fact it may well be possible that in the near future serious games will be integrated into our educational system to make learning fun and easy.

It is a success!

noreply@blogger.com (Shizzle Rau) — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 15:19:00 +0000

When we all sat down at our computers ready to work, we were not sure that our project was going to work at all. We have always had mess-ups in the making and finishing of the domino project. However, we were unaware that it would be the last time we would have to work on it. Yes, that means we have finally succeeded in completing the tiresome job of building, rebuilding, permissioning, dropping, and recording.

Recording was the hardest thing. Machinama is tough to use, however we got the hang of it after a couple of tries and have taken a suitable recording of our dominos falling down...on the second try. The first try was a mess. We had a few problems. First, we didnt even have the dominos on the floor, then we could not put the ball on physical because the owner (Dre Masala) was disconnected because of some bad internet connections. Then, the last problem that we had to work on was to even get the ball through the hole!

All in all, it went well. We have finished our project and are glad to have worked on it because it has taught us alot. We hope you like it.

Shizzle Rau

Zoomlab Partnership with DAA

noreply@blogger.com (Alpine Tendaze) — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:44:00 +0000

Myracle and I are very excited to partner with Zoomlab for our pilot project. They have very kindly offered to host us on their Kids Connect Island in the Teen Grid until the end of the semester. Sixteen acres are clear and ready for us to begin terraforming and building!

I first met Zoomlab's director, Josephine, in Second Life following one of Claudia Linden's Teen Educators meetings. She had mentioned doing dramatic activities in SL, something that intrigues me as a Forensics (Speech & Debate) coach. While we are very grateful for the use of their virtual land, we also look forward to working together during the pilot project and beyond.

We met with the Zoomlab group over a Skype conference call for over an hour last week. Josephine, Dan and Katie, all from Zoomlab, described their own pilot program, Kids Connect which they ran in July and August, 2006 with students from New York City and Amsterdam. Zoomlab is very innovative in using Teen SL to create cross-cultural experiences for youth collaborating on interactive, digitally-mediated performance art performed simultaneously in New York and Amsterdam. Students learned about performance skills, creating a common language, digital storytelling, communication, media technology and virtual environments.

There is great potential to collaborate on future projects with Zoomlab. DAA is the defending EMAC Debate champion and we host the EMAC Forensics tournament in November, 2007. At the same time, we hope to be establishing a permanent presence on the teen grid this fall. I am particularly interested in Josephine's current work preparing for a UN youth conference in November, 2007, lining up closely with our EMAC event. I see a lot of potential in using Second Life to extend the EMAC Forensics experience to a broader community.

The UN has been involved in Teen Second Life in a previous project with Global Kids. I'll update you as I get more details from Zoomlab!

Alpine

Evaluation Procedures & Upcoming Plan

noreply@blogger.com (mkhattab) — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:43:00 +0000

Hello my dear friends,

Just to assist Mr. Alpine in guiding your amazing efforts towards the construction of our Media Center, I have collected a list of criteria items for your blog postings. To assist with your time management, I have also included our exciting upcoming activities for quarter four. Enjoy, and let me know if you have any questions about the info below. Everything evolves, even this piece of rubric.

Grading Procedure: Weekly Blog Postings and Final Reflection

The blog assignment has five clearly defined areas for completion: blog postings & content requirements; regular comments throughout the quarter; and a final reflection posting due the last week of class. To earn credit, you need to turn in a hard copy of the self evaluation rubric to your teachers at the end of this quarter.

Blog Postings:
Include a detailed description of your assigned activity, challenges and successes.

Postings are assigned to specific students by your teacher.

Blog Content Requirements:
The content has a well-stated clear purpose and theme that is carried out throughout the blog.
External links to relevant websites/references (at least 2)
Screenshot, picture or movie that captures part of the activity

Blog Design:
The Blog Postings have an exceptionally attractive and usable layout.It is easy to locate all important elements. White space, graphic elements and/or alignment are used effectively to organize material.
Graphics are related to the theme/purpose of the Blog, are thoughtfully cropped, are of high quality and enhance reader interest or understanding.

Blog Comments:
Two comments per week are required.
Blog should be free of spelling errors and all links should work correctly.
Post due at the beginning of each class.
Comments should follow netiquette rules.

Final Reflection:
The final posting will reflect upon what you have learned this quarter in regards to your Second Life project and your understanding and knowledge of using the presented technology.

Fourth Quarter Plan:
1- Promotion of SL Media Center through school’s newsletters, assemblies, morning announcements, posters, etc. as well as in-world promotion
2- Establishing social networking etiquettes and procedures
3- Documenting in-world social and education events in blog
4- Monitoring the dynamics, outcomes, benefits, and challenges.
5- Evaluation & reflection
6- Report & present (you decide on the MM format) results and analysis to your teachers.

Almost There!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Dre Masala) — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 15:48:00 +0000

Hey Guys!

This is Dre Masala, one of the co-workers on the Second Life team. Based on our first experiences with Second Life, we have managed to put together a work of art known as the Domino Build. This is a stucture with a stand-like base and a tube that allows a ball to go through the stand and fall into the chute. This allows the ball to roll down and to have enough contact with dominoes in order for them to fall down.

My team and I have been working on this project for over two weeks now, and have built everything. However, we are still struggling to actaully make the ball hit the dominoes. Today in class was our first day to put our skills to the final test and what made it better was that we actually filmed it! Despite the fact that we didn't reach our goal, we were almost there in terms of positioning the dominoes in the right way. However, towards our last few tries, our computers were quite laggy, so as a result we had to leave it for another day.

This class was really exhilerating as we had never before actually experienced the ball going through and hitting down the dominoes to make them fall. To keep track of progress in Second Life, you are able to create screen shots of anything you wish. For filming, we used a program built into the Second Life client program that records streaming video of everything your avatar sees. The technique is called Machinima.

When filming there should be a heading in your menu bar ( this is in world ) that you just press in order to start filming. The file size is very large and requires compression but it is high quality! These films will be posted up on the blog later on when we have edited them. Overall, with starting Second Life new, I really do enjoy it, being able to interact with people in a second world, and being able to build things so easily! I'm looking forward to making our Media Center with my team and being able to go inside and look at what we have done! Can't wait!

Thanks,

Dre Masala

Hope you like the blog!

Second Life Promotional Video on Hold

noreply@blogger.com (ixoye706) — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 09:58:00 +0000

I've been asked to put the Second Life video on hold to work on another project. This will be a video that will be used for recruiting new staff to our school. We did one a couple months ago, but that was in Flash and it was too complex for its purpose. After I finish, I will return to the Second Life video but for now, I'll be working on the new video. I'll try to post it up when I finish.

Sony's New "Home". Competition for Second Life?

noreply@blogger.com (-G) — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 17:19:00 +0000

Hello All! This is Greg Mathy, a member of the DAA Second Life Team. I recently came across a product extremely similar to Second Life. I’m sure many of you are familiar with the Sony Playstation. Very recently, at GDC (The Games Development Conference), Sony announced a new feature for the PS3, known as Home.

Home takes advantage of the PS3’s breathtaking graphics, and, being a console product, will probably be more user friendly than Second Life. Every user will have his or her own “Home”, or apartment, in which he/she will have trophies received from the games played and can put up other pictures and videos that they choose to upload. The avatars will be customizable, but unfortunately will be human-only. As Mercury News puts it,

“Users will be able to upload and share videos, and watch various programs. Sony said its recently acquired Grouper division will help with user-generated videos.

The PlayStation 3's motion-sensitive controller helps navigate the world. Users can also take advantage of voice communication or type messages with an on-screen keyboard.

Users will be able to buy and download music; Sony has not indicated what other studios besides its own will offer songs.

Users will be able to communicate with others using text, audio and video.”

A drawback of Home is that it will not allow users to create their own content, something that is taken advantage of heavily in Second Life, and is part of the reason that it has been so successful.

Sony plans to launch the beta version of this for free in April, and is hoping for the official release this fall. Will this be competition for Second Life? Only time will tell.

On a side note, the team and I have been working on the domino build, and have been successful a few times. Our goal, however, is to record the working product for the video, but unfortunately, when running the recording software, Second Life begins to run quite slowly.

-G

P.S. Check out the Video Below, as well as Engadget and Joystiq.

Media Center Design and an introduction to Google SketchUp

noreply@blogger.com (Ro Shan) — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 22:45:00 +0000

This is Ro Shan and I'll be introducing everyone to Google SketchUp which is being used to develop the conceptual stages of design for Dubai American Academy's TeenSl media center.

First an introduction to Google sketch-up:
"Developed for the conceptual stages of design, Google SketchUp is a powerful yet easy-to-learn 3D software. It combines a simple, yet robust tool-set with an intelligent drawing system that streamlines and simplifies 3D design. From simple to complex, conceptual to realistic, Google SketchUp enables you to build and modify 3D models quickly and easily."

Anyone can learn to use it and you can download the free version from http://www.sketchup.com. Say you want to make a building and you don't know where to start then try building the base first using the rectangle tool. Then use the push/pull tool to pull up the base into the form of a building. Now to add windows make a rectangle and make several copies and snap them to the front of the building in neat rows. All this is made easier by the automatic snap to feature that lets you move and connect points together and x y z-axis which keep you from drawing stray lines. You can also choose to draw freehand though I wouldn't recommend it. With the paint bucket tools you can choose from a number of textures and the best part you don't have to worry about coloring outside the lines.

This is a draft for the TeenSL media center based on the picture of DAA's 1997 to 2000 campus.

Getting Started in Second Life

noreply@blogger.com (Jordan Descenna) — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 12:54:00 +0000

Hey, this is Jordan Descenna and I'm here to talk to you about beginning in Second Life. I bet the first thing on your mind is what is Second Life? Second Life is a online multiplayer program (notice that there is no game in that phrase) where you can basically lead a Second Life. You can attend classes in online colleges, meet new people from around the world, build anything that you desire. And I bet, the next thing on your mind is where should i sign up and take advantage of this Second Life?

Well the first place that you should go to is www.secondlife.com. However, you need to create an account. So create an account depending on your age (Teen Second Life is your choice if your under 18 years old, don't worry its the same as Second Life, its just a teen version of it), and fill out your Second Life first and last name, etc. From there on, you can register your personal details (don't worry they are not that personal!) including your real name, email address, etc. You might want to fill out your credit card details for signing up for: Teen Second Life (In Teen Second Life its essential to make sure that a guardian allows you to play this game by asking for credit card details, to buy land in Second Life, or for Linden Dollars(Yes, Second Life has its own economy!). After you create your account, you need to download the actual program to your computer via http://secondlife.com/community/downloads.php. Select your operating system, download the program and your good to go!

Once your downloads complete, your brought to a menu where you type in your First and Last Second Life name, and your password. Eventually, your loaded and you see your Second Life character for the very first time. Your character is in a place called Orientation Island. On this island you learn the basics of Second Life from flying to creating an object.

After you feel comfortable in Orientation Island, you can leave and dive into the real world of Second Life! I was looking for a Youtube movie to show what Second Life really is. So sit back and enjoy!

Promoting the second life

noreply@blogger.com (ixoye706) — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 10:13:00 +0000

Before I even started the class, which was supposed to be a video editing class, I was asked to join the Second Life group. However, I really wanted to work on videos since I didn’t really have those skills yet and I knew they would be useful, especially in college. So after getting used to how Second Life works and talking with my teachers, we decided I should work to create a video that we would use to promote Second Life around our school.

So far, we know the video will be about 3 minutes in length. It will include real videos from inside Second Life as well as live footage from the real world. I was introduced to a couple of programs from Alpine Tendaze. The first was Camstudio. This program is essentially the video equivalent of a screenshot. The second was Inspiration, a brainstorming and planning assistant that is useful for recording ideas and storyboarding.

Speaking of storyboarding, that is the next thing I need to do for the video. Some of my ideas include a short video of some people talking about what Second Life is like and then zooming into a computer monitor as a transition. I’d also like to use an avatar to “film” another avatar in Second Life. That’s all for now. I don’t want to give away all my ideas ;)

Greetings!

noreply@blogger.com (Asif Gausman) — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 19:45:00 +0000

Hello! This is Asif Gausman, and I will be posting the progress of the Second Life Team. Our whole team is finally set up in Second Life and we are friends on the teen grid.

So far we have blueprints of our media center. The center will be made to recreate the old villa that Dubai American Academy was based in. Our team members have learnt basic building and have been exploring the depths of SL and the uses of Second Life as a medium. Meanwhile, our Tech Connections section of the team has successfully promoted SL during tech connections. Their objectives were:

· Generating a list of materials for the booth
· Using the SL movies to Promote Second Life
· Creating a tutorial for logging in, selecting appearance, basic skills in SL, building a cube, etc.
· Making a banner to promote the SL environment
· Producing a list of tips/links/resources useful for further investigation

Our Second Life team is currently working on:

· Creating a list of elements
· Sketching center on paper
· Building a model on sketch-up
· Collecting electronic resources
· Exploring SL as a medium

Our next steps are to start a solid layout for the media center as well as learning advanced building. This includes our current exercise, which is building a platform that drops a ball on a chain of dominoes.

Hope to see you on the grid, Asif.

Assignments - February 25 to March 1

noreply@blogger.com (Alpine Tendaze) — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 12:10:00 +0000

Before class on February 27th:

Create a Gmail account to use with Blogger and the Second Life Moodle course. You cannot use any other email service with our Moodle setup. This is to avoid spam.
Get set up at Blogger.com.
Login to the SL Moodle course at http://www.dacademy.net.
Browse Moodle to become familiar with the interface.
Explore the teen grid. Look at different builds and how SL is being used in other sims.

By the end of class on February 27th:

Complete the domino set practice build together.
Complete the Google Sketchup model of the media center.

Assignments - All classes

noreply@blogger.com (Alpine Tendaze) — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 11:39:00 +0000

Spend 2 hours in-world outside of regular class time.
Only use your avatar's name when blogging.
One student will post to the blog after each class. The rest must comment after each class. Asif will post first followed by Fadiddle, Jordan, Greg, Dre, Ro and Lordi.
Introduce yourself if it is your first post. See the blog rubric in Moodle for examples.
Read the blog regularly and be prepared to comment with a response to questions and readings from Myracles Zsigmond or myself.
Share resources, textures, scripts, tutorials and miscellaneous SL items through the Moodle course.
Please access the blog rubric through Moodle to learn more aboout the blog criteria and expectations.

Your first build: The Giant Domino Set

noreply@blogger.com (Alpine Tendaze) — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 09:01:00 +0000

As a group, determine who is going to build each component to create a giant set of dominoes. Consider the following:

Create a group for yourselves.
Share object modification rights with your group.
Assign specific tasks to each person.
Communicate with each other in-world, even if you are sitting in the same lab.
Keep a copy of an object in your inventory to keep separate from a build where you are linking objects together. This gives you more options in the future without unlinking.
Rename each of your objects appropriately and keep your inventory folders well-organized.
Partner with another avatar to back up your inventory with them.
Comment to this post about what is/is not working well for you.
You can use the above image for inspiration but the design of the build is entirely up to you and your peers.

Project Overview: DAA TeenSL Media Center

noreply@blogger.com (Alpine Tendaze) — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 07:10:00 +0000

Dubai American Academy has grown phenomenally since its inception in 1997, mirroring the growth of the emirate of Dubai. The original campus was a 10 room villa in Umm Suqqiem and housed between 40 and 60 students during its 2 years of operation. During the summer of 2000, the school moved to its current campus of 20 acres in Al Barsha, next to Mall of the Emirates. We now have a pre-K to grade 12 student body of over 1700 students representing 78 different nationalities. Most of us were not here at the beginning. We have the opportunity to recapture some of our history by rebuilding the original campus in Teen Second Life and using it in new ways.

The purposes of our pilot project are:

For students and teachers to develop their understanding of emerging digital media
To promote interactivity, collaboration and global connectedness among students and teachers
Identify innovative ways to use Second Life as pedagogical tool to meet the existing Digital Media Studies curriculum
To establish ourselves in the TSL and SL educational communities
To document the educational value of using Second Life as a digital media tool in and out of the classroom
To evaluate and report on SL's ease of use for students and teachers new to the medium
To explore network issues and solutions
To identify solutions to problems that will inevitably arise during a pilot program
To explore alternative background check processes with Linden Lab that are feasible for international teachers and maintain the integrity of the teen grid.

The goal of Digital Media Studies students is to develop functionality in the 3D virtual environment of Teen Second Life and through their interactions and work, demonstrate an understanding of the unique qualities of this new medium. They will:

Learn to interact, move around and use their inventories

Gain basic building skills through a simple collaborative exercise

Analyze existing builds and ways in which the medium is currently being exploited.

Recreate the original DAA villa campus

Develop the villa as a virtual media center on TeenSL. IT related resources created by HS students will be available to facilitate tech-integration and the creation of media artifacts.
Exhibit a variety of student-created media from KG to grade 12.

Have a special focus on IB (International Baccalaureate) Art students' portfolios.

Work with individual IB Art students to custom design a studio in which to display their portfolio work.

Develop a collaborative build that utilizes the unique qualities if the 3D medium.

Record virtual world experiences in the blog as well as hand in assignments and share resources through the Teen SL Moodle course

Building the villa will be a collaborative effort and, with the exception of scripting, be entirely done by students. The orginal villa had 10 rooms, a garden and a separate building used as an indoor gymansium, cafeteria and auditorium. The villa does need to have a similar general appearance to the original real life villa. However, the building may need to be larger in order to house the IB student studios along with the general DAA community. Some artistic license will be required!

We expect to have at least one teacher with an avatar on the teen grid by the first of April, 2007. Linden Lab's stringent background check covering the last ten years of residence has been a significant hurdle to starting up. Our teaching community is typical of all overseas American international schools. We are highly mobile international teachers who have lived in multiple developing countries over the last ten years. Most of us move to a new country every three to six years so the Ascertain fee becomes a significant, recurring expense to the school.

Background checks with Ascertain cost us approximately $580 USD (Alpine), $880 USD (Myracles), and $295 USD (Ryuu). We are actively pursuing a reasonable alternative procedure with Claudia Linden that will allow overseas American, UK and other international schools to participate in Second Life.

See you in-world soon!

Alpine